Innovation in business

Innovation in business

Read a blog post about being innovative in business to practise and improve your reading skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then read the text and do the exercises.

Preparation

Reading text

What does it mean to be innovative in business?

In order for a business to survive in today's world, it is important that we regularly review what we are doing and how we are doing it. By considering new ideas and new ways of doing things, and trying to innovate, we can improve on our products/services, increase sales, reduce costs and make our processes more effective and efficient. Innovation is key to increasing profits.

There are several ways a company can be innovative with their products and services. Today we will look at four of them.

1. Using the latest technology to improve your product/service

When we think of innovation, we often think of new technologies. While they might be impressive, we should not use new technologies just because they are available. It is important to consider how the technology can improve our product/service and make a difference to our customer. Companies that produce cars, toiletries, household appliances, etc. often have a large R&D department to work on making their products better.

2. Responding to customer demands by changing what is on offer

By listening to customer feedback, we can get their opinions on how we are doing and find out about what it is that they want. We also need to be aware of changes in customer demands and keep up with the times. When fast-food restaurant McDonald's realised that the market wanted healthier choices, they introduced fruit and salads, while removing the 'super-size' option from their menus.

3. Offering a new product/service to reach new customers

Your business might be doing well, but there is no growth or development and there is a risk that your competitors might take away some of your customers. Innovation sometimes means developing a new product that targets a different market. Although video games were often played by boys, in 2006, video games giant Nintendo introduced the game console Nintendo Wii, successfully targeting girls and older customers with games like Cooking Mama and Brain Training.  

4. Changing the way you provide a service

By looking at the changes to the customer's lifestyle and needs, we sometimes realise that there might be better ways to serve them. Customers who do not have a lot of time might prefer to have their food or their shopping delivered to their homes, or they might like to do their banking online rather than in an actual bank.

Not all innovation will bring success to our businesses, but it can give us the opportunity to grow and learn more about what we do and what our customers might want.

Discussion

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Submitted by Mahmoud Gadelk… on Mon, 30/03/2020 - 14:46

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Since the world is facing a serious threat that haven't been faced the Spanish Flu that hit the entire world a century ago, many innovations are now diverted to medical supplies.

Submitted by Mamta Gusain on Fri, 27/03/2020 - 12:41

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I would request the Team learn English to describe the topic Innovation so that we could get a better writing skill. Thank you

Hello Mamta Gusain

Can you see the Reading text above? The article there describes different kinds of innovation in the world of business.

Reading the article could certainly help you with your writing skills. I'd also suggest you have a look at our Writing section, where you'll find different kinds of texts with some tips on how to write similar ones.

Please have a look and let us know what you think.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by phanduchieu on Fri, 13/03/2020 - 03:44

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One of the latest innovations in the service I have used recently is the way i pay for things i buy. In the old days, when i bought some things, i used to pay for it by cash but everythings have changed, citizens prefer cashlesh payment, with a phone connected to the internet, i can buy things without bring any cash. Thanks British Coucil Team and i really happy to have some feedback on my commention to help me influence in writing.

Submitted by Crunch01 on Mon, 02/03/2020 - 11:54

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Innovation is very important to keep your business, but we have to know what are needs to your customer in order to find the idea which you 'll allow to have more or new business.

Submitted by shahhoseini on Wed, 26/02/2020 - 15:23

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Nowadays, some companies in the world have innovative ideas in their products and services. One of the most famous of them is Tesla. Inc., that manufactures electric vehicles.

Submitted by Maksim on Mon, 03/02/2020 - 11:53

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I've tried to use a smart TV, it was pretty interesting for me. It's cool when you can watch youtube on a large TV without connecting a laptop to it.
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Submitted by mtalebi on Sun, 26/01/2020 - 06:10

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We can see some innovation in the mobile phone every year in size, camera, operating system, memory, and so on.

Submitted by omarsupreme47 on Sun, 19/01/2020 - 21:12

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We are developing well and new innovation are coming every year